84 HOME AND GARDEN 



when they have exhausted the goodness of their bed 

 and want it renewed. They bear numbers of bulbils 

 in the axils of the leaves that can be grown on, and 

 come to flowering size in about five years. It is a 

 valuable Lily, not only from its own beauty of free 

 flower, black-spotted on salmon orange, of bold turn- 

 cap shape, but because it is a true flower of autumn, 

 blooming well into the third week of September. I 

 always grow them in front of a yew hedge, the dark 

 background of full, deep, low-toned green showing up 

 their shape and colour to the fullest advantage. 



The only other Lily that I can depend on is 

 Lilium auratum. I cannot afford to buy the home- 

 grown bulbs that are so much the most trustworthy 

 and satisfactory, but from time to time buy a case of 

 imported ones, when they are to be had at about a 

 pound a hundred, and take my chance. If I am lucky 

 with bulbs and season they do fahly well. 



They are among Rhododendrons in beds of peat 

 and old hot-bed stuff. If the bulbs do not rot and die 

 outright, or if the young shoots are not eaten off by 

 mice in the spring, they make a fair growth the first 

 year, and increase in strength for some four or five 

 years ; after that they deteriorate. But by buying a 

 case every two years, and picking out some of the best 

 for pots and planting out the rest, I manage to keep 

 up somewhat of an outdoor show. For some reason 

 that those who know better than myself can perhaps 

 explain, they flower over a very long period. The 



